WHITE PAPER IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES FOR 2000-2001

15 March 2000

The 1999-2000 University Senate Budget Committee (David Frank, Mike
Kellman, Nathan Tublitz and Wayne Westling) has generated three documents
dealing with instructional faculty compensation. The first, entitled Basic
Principles of Compensation for Instructional Faculty at the University
of Oregon, describes the overarching set of principles to be used for
all future disbursements of campus-wide salary improvement funds. The second
document, The
SBC White Paper: A Plan for Sustained Competitive Parity in Instructional
Faculty Compensation, uses the principles in the Principles document
as a foundation from which to discuss the goal of achieving and maintaining
compensation parity with our comparator universities in the next 5-7 years.
The White Paper also identifies 5 sources to fund the sustained competitive
parity goal. The current document provides additional details regarding
the implementation of the White Paper plan for the academic year 2000-2001.
In this paper we: 1) identify the specific sources that will provide the
funds to underwrite faculty salary increases in November 2000; 2) describe
the distribution of these funds; and, 3) discuss how the entire process
will be monitored.

1. FUNDING OF THE WHITE PAPER PLAN TO IMPROVE INSTRUCTIONAL FACULTY
COMPENSATION FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2000-2001

The university has committed to a 5% average salary increase for instructional
faculty to be distributed in November 2000. Using the White Paper figures
of $0.55 million for every 1% increase for instructional faculty (based
on information from the University Office of Resource Management), we estimate
that $2.75 million is required to fund the first yearís salary increase.
The White Paper has identified 5 potential funding sources apart from direct
state support. These are: A) Reallocation of current funds to Instruction;
B) Enrollment increases; C) Increased tuition; D) New endowment; and, E)
Auxiliary enterprises (see White Paper for details on each source). Using
data provided by the administration, funding for year 1 of the White paper
plan (2000-2001) will come from the following sources:

Source A: Reallocation of current funds to instruction

Reallocation from Administration to Instruction

$0.40 million

Internal reallocation from schools and colleges

$ 0.55 million

Source E: Auxiliary enterprises

Athletics

$ 0.20 million

Auxiliary funds that would have gone to Reserve

$ 0.50 million

State appropriated general funds

$ 1.10 million

TOTAL

$ 2.75 million

2. DISTRIBUTION OF SALARY IMPROVEMENT FUNDS

The fall 2000 raises will take effect in November,
except that in the College of Arts and Sciences some preliminary merit
raises announced in January and February will have gone into effect between
February 15 and June 15. The November 2000 distribution of the 5% average
salary increase shall follow the principles and goals set forth in the
accompanying Principles and White Paper documents. Funds shall be distributed
on the basis of both merit and cost of living adjustments (COLA). It is
the expectation of the Senate Budget Committee and the administration that
all satisfactorily performing faculty shall receive a salary increase from
all sources (COLA and merit) that at minimum is equivalent to the cost
of living increase. The following calculations shall be used when salary
distributions are calculated.

A. Cost of living adjustment. The White Paper states
that "With respect to COLA, a portion of every salary adjustment pool must
be allocated to cost of living adjustments for all faculty performing satisfactorily".
It further states that a full COLA shall be distributed if the total funds
available in terms of percentage are greater or equal to 200% of the cost
of living for the previous calendar year. However if the salary pool is
less than 200% of the cost of living for that year, then half of the current
salary increase will be allocated as a COLA.

Cost of living calculations were obtained from the US Bureau of Labor
Statistics Portland-Salem OR-WA consumer price index. For the purposes
of the November 2000 salary increases, the period used to determine changes
in the cost of living was the 1999 calendar year (Jan-Dec), and for that
year the Portland-Salem OR-WA CPI rose by 3.3%.

Since the salary pool of 5% is less than 200% of the cost of living
for 1999, then half of the 5% salary pool (2.5%) shall be considered a
COLA and shall be distributed to all faculty performing satisfactorily
based on the White Paper principle discussed above.

B. Merit allocations. The remaining funds (2.5%) after
the COLA disbursements shall be distributed on the basis of merit. Merit
increases shall be based on performance using systematic principles and
procedures adopted by each department/unit and shall be consistent with
the goals set forth in the Principles document and White Paper. These include:
1) reaching the 95% sustained competitive parity goal; 2) addressing the
compression issue; 3) redressing salary inequities; 4) ensuring that the
vast majority of faculty receive significant increases; and 5) attaining
the 80% minimum salary floor level.

3. MONITORING OF IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

The University administration, including the Provost's office and Deans,
have agreed to strive towards the goal of sustained competitive parity
described in the White Paper and to follow the Principles document when
disbursing salary improvement funds. During the spring of 2000 each department
or school will:

a) develop a set of systematic principles and procedures for merit raises,
in accordance with the White Paper section 5 and Principle #3;

b) promulgate openly and clearly the principles and procedures before merit
decisions are made, in accordance with Principle #3;

c) obtain approval of the merit raise plan in advance by the appropriate
Dean and the Provostís office, in accordance with Principle #3;

d) notify each eligible faculty member of his or her fall raise before
the end of the 1999-2000 academic year.

For this first round of salary increases, it is understood that some units
may not be able to fully comply with a-c above within the time frame imposed
by d. In such cases Deans can provisionally approve such plans with the
understanding that a-c will be completed and approved in the fall of 2000.

After salary decisions are made, each department will submit a written
report to the appropriate Dean by December 15, 2000 demonstrating that
the fall 2000 salary increases followed the written departmental procedures
and were consistent with the Principles in the Principles document. Any
deviation from these procedures and principles will have to be justified
and accepted by the Provost, who will receive copies of the department
reports from the Deans. In those schools without departments, a similar
report will be submitted by the Dean to the Provost.

After receiving departmental salary increase information from the Deans,
the administration will provide all relevant salary data to the Senate
Budget Committee by January 15, 2001 and work closely with the SBC to develop
an implementation plan for year 2 (2001-2002). The Senate Budget Committee
will report to the University Senate on the progress towards the White
Paper implementation plan for 2000-2001 as well as present an Implementation
Plan for 2001-2002 no later than April 2001.

This document will be presented to the UO Senate at the
29
March 2000 meeting as resolution US9900-14
Related Web Pages: